Scandal with Rosario Central: club statement, possible sanction and claim of the attacked Peñarol player

Central rosary debuted with a victory in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, where they won 1-0 Penarol with a goal Carlo Quintana. The result, however, remained in the background because, at the end of the match, Massimiliano Oliverawinger of the Uruguayan team, He was hit on the head by a stone and was hospitalized..

In this context, the Argentine club, exposed to a harsh sanction by Conembol, has disavowed the facts and assured that it will take a drastic decision with the fans involved.. However, The attacked player has not remained silent about the situation.

“I am fine! Thanks for the messages. Other than the pain and a few stitches, everything is fine!“, wrote the Uruguayan at the beginning of a short statement published on his Instagram account, after fortunately finding himself in good condition.

But after reassuring himself about his health, Olivera left aside the act of violence against his integrity and reacted with the treatment that the Peñarol fans, located in the lower stalls, received when they were attacked from the upper stand by the fans of Central.

“Hurt by the result that we believe we deserved more. But with a lot of anger at the terrible treatment our fans, our people, have received. A shame!“, Olivera added in defense of his own fans after the safety fences fell from the upper stalls.

And in the form of encouragement he closed: “But all together we will fight everywhere! Peñarol and nothing more. This follows! Let’s go and go“.

After being treated on the playing field and transferred to the changing room area, Olivera fainted from the blow and had to be transferred to a nearby guard to receive the corresponding stitch.. A few minutes later he left the sanatorium with a bandage on his left eyebrow. According to what was explained by the referee and the Conmebol report, the attack was caused by a stone the size of the palm of a hand.

In the press conference, Uruguayan defender Lucas Hernández also referred to the event and called for football without aggression. “We went to greet the people like we do in every game, for coming here, like in every place we go. The people at the station got nervous and got a little complicated. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again because a player got hurt. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious. “It’s a very bad thing, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

Given the incidents, Rosario Central, a few minutes after the meeting, confirmed through an official statement that work is being done to identify the attackers. “Due to the reprehensible and unacceptable facts that occurred in the match played this Thursday 4 April 2024, the club is examining cameras and access controls to immediately identify these sympathizers -both from the local and visitor point of view- who have instigated and/or carried out episodes and/or acts of violence“he assured.

Along the same lines, the institution has revealed what steps will be followed with the supporters recognized in the images. “Once identified, They will be sanctioned according to the strictest legal and regulatory guidelines. and, in the case of those who were members of our institution, the right of admission will apply to them and, ultimately, they will be duly punished and the person concerned will be irrevocably expelled,” he said.

Violence in Rosario, even before the match

As for the action that endangered the health of Peñarol fans, it occurred when there was an hour left before the start of the match. Despite the presence of security personnel on the edge of the upper stand where the Canallas fans werethe fans managed to break down the fences lowered security. Even a custodian risked falling into the void in the middle of a fight with some fans to avoid breaking down the fence.

According to the local press, the annoyance of the Rosario fans arose before entering the stadium, when the Uruguayans threw thunder bombs at them while they were singing.”we are local again“.

On Carbonero’s part, however, they accuse of having given the wrong capacity: they received space for 2,000 fans when in reality they sold 4,000 tickets. “Miraculously it did not end in disgrace“he confirmed Marcelo Areco, former leader of Peñarol, present at the Gigante de Arroyito. And he added that “The people of Central can’t go to the match in Uruguay, because nothing good can come from there“.

The possible sanctions to which the Center is exposed

Now, El Canalla must wait for the legal solution determined by Conembol based on its jurisprudence in this type of cases.. No sanction has yet been made official, although everything suggests that he could receive one harsh financial fine and disciplinary sanctionwhich could be related to the partial or total closure of The torrent giant.

According to articles 13 and 18 of the Disciplinary Tribunal, considering at the same time article 64 of the Conmebol, sanctions for throwing objects onto the playing field They can range from a simple warning to the team’s disqualification from the tournamentor their exclusion from future competitions.

The resolution of the case will remain exclusively in the hands of Conmebol. There is no possibility for Peñarol to explicitly request a sanctionbut he has the right to present a file that collects all the situations that can help the disciplinary judge to determine the sanction.

One of the most remembered precedents in which players were attacked by fans is the case of Panadero and the famous “pepper gas” episode in the Superclásico of the 2015 Copa Libertadores.

In that situation, where the match was suspended at half-time and Boca were disqualified, a large part of the River team had been attacked and the match could not continue. The situation was different in Arroyito, where it was an attack on a player and with the match already over.

The next few hours will be crucial in finding out what defines Conmebol, especially considering that the Copa Libertadores is played week after week and Rosario Central will have to travel to Brazil to face Atlético Mineiro next Wednesday.

Another fact to keep in mind is that the president of Central is Gonzalo Belloso, the former footballer who, before deciding to work in the management of the Rosario club, of which he was an idol, was director of development of Conmebol between 2018 and 2021. ., leaving an excellent image in the home of South American football based in Paraguay.